Obama puts a lid on the birth control controversy
Barb ShellyPresident Barack Obama’s exit strategy from the great birth control controversy is pretty simple. Catholic schools and hospitals and charities that object to paying for contraceptives in their employees’ insurance policies don’t have to. But if the employees want access to no-cost birth control projects and services, insurance companies must pick up the cost.
Planned Parenthood is happy and, according to this AP report, the president of the Catholic Health Association is OK with the new policy. I don’t imagine the insurance industry is thrilled but, hey, birth control is a lot less costly than pregnancy and childbirth.
What’s not clear, at least so far, is what happens if insurance companies simply hike the rates for Catholic-affiliated institutions. If so, it seems like the employers will be paying for the birth control services after all, just in a round-about way.
Also not happy with Obama’s new policy are the Republican politicians, operatives and commentators who cannot be happy with anything Obama does. It will be hard for them to protest too much, however. Polling done in connection with the controversy has shown that a healthy majority of Americans, including Catholics, support ready access to free birth control.
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Chuck Close
3 months agoWe constitutional conservatives are alowed to laugh openly at this drivel are we not, Barb?
I mean….really… our extra constitutional decision maker in chief has decided that rather than shake the first ammendment religious rattle he would just “imagine” some contrived authority and mandate Insurance Companies (another group over which he has absolutely no constitutional authority) provide free services and coverages.
Constitutional scholar, indeed!
Then you grotesquely add the meaningless cherry on top of the airbag argument: unidentified “polling” results.
That, of course follows the overt worry that those who utilize a service just might have to help pay for that service…..heaven forbid!
Puts a lid on the controversy?…..I don’t think so. I will argue that he has simply stirred the pot of overreaching resonance…..which is precisely what his actions should elicit from his constituency.
Tom Ryan
Crossroads, Kansas City
3 months agoI think the real story to this story is the story of an organized and sophisticated Catholic organization that transcends “Church” and blends with business, politics, healthcare, education, religion, “State” and few other “issues” and entities. The Catholic Church is a State. Given their multi-dimensional sophistication, the politicians and journalists seem a bit confused, with good reason. Few mainstream media organizations curiously investigate and analyse the Catholic Church…as in the organization, the bureaucracy, the leadership, the money, the land, the businesses. The media nibbles around the edges with care rather than curiosity.
George Hunsucker
Northland
3 months agoAnother great lib parody ms. shelly….
I don’t know where you libs get these, but they are absolutely knee-slappers. If you think the American people are so damm stupid as to believe this “solution” of jimmy obama’s is going to work then I have some swamp land to sell you for development. All he is TRYING to do is to shift the cost to the evil insurance industry which will then increase prices for ALL policies. Americans will see this charade for what it is….
Once more the big 0 shows his “leadership” skills. I wonder what genius in his inner group thought this up??
Keep the laughs coming ms. shelly!!!
Phil Cardarella
3 months agoOf course it is a slick move.
And it cuts the legs out of a non-controversy.
The bishops have been itching for a fight with Obama. They may have to look elsewhere.
Seriously, the Catholic hierarchy has as much moral authority about matters sexual as Willie Sutton had about banking.
Mark Hastert
3 months agoThis is a tempest in a teapot. Obama’s big mistake was not realizing that the bishops were laying for him. They had a PR campaign ready to roll before the announcement of the rules. The Republican candidates have a fresh talking point for a few days but it’s ultimately a mistake to press the issue.
On the other side there is the majority of Catholics that think the church has it wrong on contraception and ignore the bishops. The vast majority of Americans that believe that it should be available to women and that it’s not the business of a bunch old old celibate (supposedly)priests to tell women how to manage their reproductive lives.
If the Republican candidates want to risk alienating women by siding with the bishops they do it at their peril.
Ray Parker
Overland Park
3 months agoCatholics, pro-lifers, and conservatives will not agree to the compromise - actually a scam, a bait-and-switch - offered by the Mombasa Marxist regime on mandating contraceptives, abortifacient drugs, and sterilizations to be paid for by mandatory insurance premiums. The National Right to Life Committee (NRLC), the national federation of right-to-life organizations, issued the following comment, any part of which may be attributed to NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson: “President Obama today promulgated a scam that, if he is re-elected, will allow him to mandate that every health plan in America cover abortion on demand,” said NRLC Legislative Director Douglas Johnson. “The same twisted logic will be applied: By ordering health plans to cover elective abortion, health plans would save the much higher costs of prenatal care, childbirth, and care for the baby — and under the Obama scam, if a procedure saves money, then that means that you’re not really paying for it when the government mandates it.” By this form of doublespeak, one could say that the federal Medicaid program was not really “funding abortion” when it paid for 300,000 abortions a year (prior to adoption of the Hyde Amendment in 1976), because after all, every abortion that the government paid for also saved the government money.
The Obama “you must pay, but nobody pays” scam might also be applied to other “cost-cutting” mandates. Perhaps every health plan will be mandated to cover physician-assisted suicide, in states in which assisted suicide is legal. After all, each suicide would result in a net savings to the plan, and under the Obama scam, that means it is really free and nobody really pays for it.
Chuck Close
3 months agoMr Cardarella and Ms Shelley:
The issue is NOT the catholic church or any deflecting moral outrage from either side relative to that august religious denomination.
The issues are really twofold as I see them. First is the notion that the government has any authority to put aside any religious or civil right in favor of ANY political or legislated desire.
The second issue is the very idea that contraception is a health care issue at all. It is a lifestyle issue of choice……not a healthcare issue.
Many of us believe the answer to the conundrum is that this is NOT constitutional.
It certainly is not ethicsl through my lens. The idea that having made choices that have consequences, one may now foist fiscal responsibility for the consequences off on the taxpayer seems absurd. That is an action that lacks ANY moral authority.
The pot has been stirrred and the fire has a fresh cord for fuel…..the boiling will continue with this as a lightening rod for the repeal Obamacare folks and for believers that the constutution does have enumerated powers limitations.
Sam Woods
3 months agoMr. Close, maybe you should just stay within your expertise on condoms - you can get them free at Planned Parenthood, and not spout off about women and contraceptives. It turns out, you know jack.
I think Obama played this about right. He let the controversy go just long enough for all the republican candidates to say some stupid things about women’s access to contraception - because in truth, that is what this debate is about - then Obama offered the perfect solution. I think we will see some of those bytes in Obama commercials in the upcoming months.
Kent Mueller
3 months agoSam….it’s about women’s access to contraception? I just got back from CVS. They still sell condoms. Sadly, what they don’t have to sell, is responsibility.
Mark Robertson
3 months agoDream on Barb Shelly. Obama may have put a lid on it, but he clamped it down, and its boiling, which means it will soon explode. “Planned Parenthood is happy?” Well that settles it. Right. And the Catholic Health Association is a radical leftist bunch that is essentially anti-Catholic since they support Obama and Obamacare which pays for abortions, contraception, sterilization, and violates the Catholic backed principle of subsidiarity. When Sister Carol Keehan, the non habit wearing nun of the “Catholic” Health Assoc. who went against the bishops in supporting Obamacare, and Cecile Richards(daughter of Ma Richards)of Planned Parenthood agree, it’s trouble It is not a compromise. Obama just increased the lie. He is insane. Just who does he think he is. He thinks he can just deem that insurance companies will provide something free and it will magically happen. The bishops oppose it, but they should have more forcefully opposed Obamacare when it was being debated. With Obama’s latest scam, the Catholic church would still be paying for contraception. It’s a bookkeeping gimick. It’s like saying that government money to Planned Parenthood doesn’t go to abortion. The Catholic Church should not provide any insurance, and the states should not adopt Obamacare. It is time for civil disobedience. Our country is on the line. Thank you. Mark Robertson Independence
Sam Woods
3 months agoOh Kent, men don’t really know much about contraception or responsibility. It’s the woman’s job. And this is aside from the millions of women who take BC pills for other medical conditions. Men don’t even want to know about that stuff. Men can’t keep it in their pants, obviously, so the woman has to figure things out. It takes two to get pregnant - men seem to so conveniently forget this when it comes to unwanted pregnancy.
I can’t imagine how the freakish right i.e. Mark Robertson is going to spin the negatives of free contraception for women. It should’ve been free years and years ago. I know Mark would like all catholic women to be under his thumb, but it turns out 99% of them aren’t. How frustrating. It seems way past the time when catholic bishops should be making medical decisions for women. And it is.
Chuck Close
3 months agoMr Woods”: I claim no expertise in anything…..though I graciously accept your ill intended praise.
I am a committed pro choice, fiscally conservative, capitalist who was blessed to have been born of this country.
I make nor pass judgement on any woman ….ever! I am judgemental of any and all who make personal choices while joyously celebrating their constitutionally guaranteed right to do so.
We all live with the personal burdens and consequences of choices we make. Accepting responsibility for those consequences is not the burden of the taxpayer.
Womens’ access to contraception is not a health care issue, though I certainly favor such access. It is a lifestyle issue.
George Hunsucker
Northland
3 months agoyes mam ms. shelly, the lid is on and jimmy obama has won the day….
http://online.wsj.com/article/SB10001424052970203646004577217181415407806.html?mod=WSJhpLEFTTopStories
That is except those he insulted. Every C church needs to repeat this offense for the next 39 or whatever number of Sundays left until election day. This administration has again ignored our Constitution
Mark Robertson
3 months agoGood point, just who is it that decides that contraception is health care? This is just a tune-up for making it official that killing children is health care. Should mandated insurance cover health club membership? Why not, it’s health care? Should insurance cover walking and running shoes? Why not, it’s health care. Should health insurance buy health food? Why not, it’s health care? Health care seems to be whatever the left wing radicals who support government health care say it should be, thus contraception and abortifacients and abortion are mandated from the party of death. Obamacare would end this country as we know it. It must be repealed and/or be found unconstitutional.There is zero doubt that it is unconstitutional, but there are two Clinton and two Obama appointed Supreme Court Justices. Just last week, Ruth Bader Ginsburg said that the U.S. Constitution would not be a good model to start a country in this day and age. This is the insanity that we are up against. Thank you. Mark Robertson Independence
Sam Woods
3 months agoOf course contraceptives are health care. A woman’s health care status certainly changes if she gets pregnant, no? Not to mention the millions of women that use contraceptives to reduce bleeding and cramping to avoid iron deficiency, shrink ovarian and fibroid cysts and treat endometriosis.
I’d like to see Mitt or Rick get up and give a speech about how contraceptives should not be free no matter how heavy a woman’s “spells” are, because it’s a “life style choice.” I think I will just keep my head in the sand about “women’s issues.”
George Hunsucker
Northland
3 months agoso tell me Sam, does getting pregnant just “happen”, or is it in the water or some airborne illness. Oh, that’s right, it is a PERSONAL CHOICE, isn’t it????
You libs can be such a hoot….
Mark Hastert
3 months ago“does getting pregnant just “happen”, or is it in the water or some airborne illness. Oh, that’s right, it is a PERSONAL CHOICE, isn’t it???”
Read more here: http://voices.kansascity.com/entries/obama-puts-lid-birth-control-controversy/#storylink=cpy
Exactly, and religions should have no say in it whatsoever. I’m glad you’re thinking is coming around. It’s clear that this banter is expanding you POV!
George Hunsucker
Northland
3 months agoWrong again mysyhaw, but what’s new…
Personal choice means nobody pays for it except in your twisted lib world….
Sam Woods
3 months agoSo heavy periods get no air time? Really. Who woulda thunk. Personal choice? To have a family when you can afford to give kids what they need? God the republicans have jumped the shark on this one. Just keep on keepin on repubs. More power to you.